Does Christmas make you nostalgic? If so, you’re far from alone. This time of year, many of us long, almost painfully, for the traditions we grew up with. My husband and I got married days before Christmas. It came as a rude surprise to discover he expected a star atop the tree, and my family had always had an angel. (We resolved this early conflict in a mature manner by using my angel.)
More curious is the way much older traditions have stuck with us, although they may predate us—or even our parents and grandparents. “Miracle on 34th Street” or “It’s A Wonderful Life” can make us misty eyed. We sing carols that in some cases go back to the Middle Ages.
I’ve come to treasure mid-century decorations, such as glass tree ornaments from Woolworth’s, ceramic elves stamped “Made in Japan,” and Gurley candles shaped like carolers, some still bearing 29¢ stickers on the base. They make my house feel cozy, like the images from those old movies.
One decoration I loved as a child, and still do today, was the tiny cardboard village under our tree. The houses and churches sparkled with glitter in their miniature landscape of cotton-batting snow and bushes of dried moss. A sheet of glass atop light-blue construction paper made a perfect little pond for tiny skaters. As someone once pointed out, accuracy of scale is of no concern in the cardboard village. Reindeer may loom over the houses like the mutant product of scientific experimentation gone wrong in a “B” horror movie.
I’ve since learned the cardboard villages are properly called “putz houses,” and originated with Moravian immigrants. Originally handmade, the houses were later imported from Germany and Japan. Nowadays, of course, we’re more likely to buy a ceramic village we can light up. Yet I’ll take the primitive—and even quirky—charm of a putz village any day.
I love the old houses for their sense of history and feeling of nostalgia. I also appreciate their great variety and individuality one doesn’t find in modern mass-produced villages. The little buildings are mostly humble, as cardboard things are. They speak of simpler times and pleasures.
Maybe best of all, we can build our own putz villages and decorate them as we please. A new tradition for child and parent or grandparent might be to build a new house each year and keep adding to the tiny community. While kits are available, you can also find plans online, such as this free resource: https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/make-traditional-glitter-houses-2365171
Perhaps our yearning for the things of the past is rooted in a longing for a time when we were more carefree. A time when beloved faces, now gone, were still around us as we enjoyed the season together. When our slower-paced celebration centered on Christ’s birth, and family closeness. Building a putz house or church with loved ones might let us recapture just a bit of that old-fashioned Christmas spirit.
Susan Kimmel Wright is a child of the Appalachian Mountains. A former lawyer, Susan has published three children’s mystery novels and is a prolific contributor to Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Please watch for her first cozy mystery for adult readers, Mabel Gets the Ax, currently set for 2021 release by Mountain Brook Ink. Susan can generally be found nose deep in a book, out in the woods with her dogs, or online at links below. Please stop by.
